Black Women Are A Political Organizing Force. They’re Not Unicorns.

It was early Wednesday morning, and DeJuana Thompson, founder of Woke Vote, still hadn’t slept. She’d spent the months leading up to the special Senate election in Alabama coordinating with thousands of students at 14 historically black colleges and with a number of black churches — grinding, thankless work that paid off Tuesday in Democrat Doug Jones’ victory over Republican Roy Moore.

Thompson was tired, understandably so, but she livened up when the subject turned to the idea of the Magical Negro. The Magical Negro was much on my mind after seeing the reaction to a contest that turned largely on the votes of black people, black women in particular. Black women, election observers said, had managed to save white people from themselves.

“People like to believe in magic,” Thompson told me with a slight chuckle. “Even though I celebrate the essence of black women, I recognize that that magic has come with much sacrifice. It’s a dusting of hard work. It’s a dusting of perseverance. It’s not the dusting of fairies.”